The nonpartisan Wisconsin Judicial Commission filed an ethics complaint against Justice Prosser over the incident, but because the Wisconsin Supreme Court is the only governing body that can make a final ruling on this issue, the matter is stalled as the Court cannot reach a quorum. Prosser asked every member of the court to recuse themselves from the case; Roggensack was the first to do so, followed by two other justices, dampening any hopes of a resolution.
Further division within the court is evidenced by a February 13, 2013 memo from Justice Bradley where she expresses continued concerns over her safety. The memo, where she too recuses herself from deliberations over the choking incident, discusses the court's dysfunction, and singles out Justice Roggensack for denying it.
Roggensack had made a series of public statements where she discounted the court's internal conflicts by calling it "just a bunch of gossip" and that the court was "doing just fine." Bradley's memo refutes these statements by detailing how she and Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson had been forced to lock their doors and request additional security from the Capitol Police even before the choking incident, due to concerns over what she describes as Justice Prosser's "history of abusive behavior."
Roggensack, for her part, has urged her colleagues to join her in signing a joint apology letter to the citizens of Wisconsin regarding the incident between Prosser and Bradley, which purports to be an alternative to the ethics case finding a resolution. Her opponent Fallone has criticized the letter, as well as her decision to recuse herself from the case, stating "
t is obvious that her unnecessary recusal in the case continues to be an obstacle to the resolution of the matter."
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/03/12015/another-wi-supreme-court-election-battle-dominated-outside-spending
= new reply since forum marked as read